The main surprise in Scolari's 23 man squad for Euro 2008 is the absence of Maniche, who's been too fat and ineffective for far too long. However his brother, Jorge Ribeiro, has been chosen after a great season for Boavista. Many people are also complaining about the choice of Petit who has been injured more or less all season.

New faces playing in their first major tournament from Portugal:
Rui Patricio (sh1te keeper, 3rd choice)
Bosingwa (to my knowledge, the best right back in European football)
Pepe (well known €30m centre back of Real Madrid)
Bruno Alves (nasty, truly old-school centre back)
Miguel Veloso (vain holding midfielder, thinks he's the dog's bollocks, I hate him)
Jorge Rebeiro (Maniche's brother, I love him, runs his nuts off at either left back or on the left wing)
Raul Meireles (great centre midfield player, creative and defensive, a like for like replacement for Maniche)
João Moutinho (tiny but brilliant, a great team player for me, a better choice than Deco)
Nani (you all know him)
Quaresma (amazingly, this will be his first major tournament. Probably the closest thing the world has seen to Garrincha. Untrustworthy, crazy, annoying, lazy yet also a complete and utter genius with the ball at his feet)
Hugo Almeida (I've heard lots of people say this quote but he really is one of the most improved strikers in European football, I like him a lot)

So, who are the big names missing in other teams and who are the new faces ready to take their place?

I hear that Steven gerrard, wayne rooney, michael Owen, rio Ferdinand, john terry and Frank lampard aren't going to be there.

How will the tournament survive.

Well one of the biggest surprises (to me, at least, mabye this was expected) must be who is in the Sweden squad--Henrik Larsson, out of international retirement.

Maniche's exclusion indicates that Scolari has been watching Inter and/or talking to Mancini. For all of the Interisti's braying that Mancini doesn't know what he's doing when it comes to team selection, every time Maniche has stepped on the pitch he has demonstrated why he isn't being picked notwithstanding the epidemic of injuries in Inter's midfield.

Looks like Italy are going to wait until the absolute last minute to name their squad. Del Piero will make it, and Cassano won't.

How is Pelé doing at Inter ursus? Every time I've seen him he's looked very solid and seems to have great potential. His performance against Lazio last week was excellent. Do you think he has a chance of becoming one of the first 11 at Inter next season?

I really like Pele. I had huge doubts when he first arrived (in large part due to his name), but just as you said, he has been at least solid in pretty much every appearance this year, and was much more than solid against Lazio in the Coppa. I would have been playing him instead of Vieira for the last month or so.

If he isn't a regular in the first 16 next season, lots of Interisti will be very upset, but I'm not sure that he is quite ready to hold down a starting XI place. That said, if Inter's midfield suffers anywhere near the injuries they have this year, anyone in the first 16 will get a lot of games.

In a lot of ways, he's been everything that Maniche hasn't been.

A Portuguese journalist on R5 reckoned Bosingwa was vastly over priced and said he was a good but not great player.

Anyone seen much of him and can offer some thoughts? 16 million is a hell of a lot of money (for a full back!) even though we all seem to be a bit blase about the prices Chelsea pay. I think they could have got Alves for that money, and this furthers my theory that their transfer policy is based soley on blocking/annoying the hell out of Man U and Arsenal

*wrong thread*

Quick reply for you Mr Kite, Paulo Ferreira cost £13m, Pepe cost £22m, Ricardo Carvalho cost £20m.

Porto sell their best defenders for a high price but rightly so. Of the above, I'd say only Ferreira was slightly overpriced. Bosingwa is an excellent player and there really isn't a right back like him in the world. Chelsea have bought a great player in his prime, they've paid a lot for him and certainly some of that price is to prevent Man Utd from having him. But it is not stupid money, he will definitely prove his worth at Chelsea.

edit: Also, in terms of the Alves comparison. Well, there are lots of Alves style players knocking around Portugal and Brazil (Benfica's Nelson will impress many when he moves to Aston Villa). Bosingwa is different, he's a big guy, graceful on the ball and a fantastic defender. Unlike most full backs, pace is not the only attribute to his game. Think Micah Richards with more experience in the position, less weight, better passing and much more composure on the ball. I f Chelsea wanted to buy him, how much would they have to pay?

steveeee, have you seen any of Maicon since he's been at Inter?

Your description of Boswinga reminds me of Maicon (who is second only to Javier Zanetti in terms of Inter players for whom I have a very deep respect).

I'm surprised no-one else has mentioned this yet. Raúl's not in the Spanish squad, which is a big headline-getter but not actually very surprising.

But Bojan Krkic has also been left out. Apparently Aragones talked to him and the kid told him he felt absolutely shattered. It's not as big a shock as it would be if he got left out in, say, six or eight years' time*, but it's still a surprise...



*Presuming he develops as well as expected.

The Bojan discussion is on the Spain thread, Sam.

The "big surprise" in Aragones' squad (once everyone knew Bojan wasn't going) was actually the inclusion of Villarreal's Cazorla, who has been one of the more impressive midfielders in this year's Liga, but does not have any caps. Cazorla is the only one of the 23 who wasn't among those "pre-selected" for vaccinations against this rare form of encephalitis that the Spaniards seem to be particularly concerned about for some reason (perhaps only because it gives the hacks something to write about).

Domenech has left Trezeguet out of France's "pre-selection" of 30 players, while including Bafe Gomis of St. Etienne, who has yet to be capped.

The squad surprises in the preliminary German squad are
a) the exclusion of Timo Hildebrandt. Enke was expected, but Adler's inclusion shows Löw is already looking to the future.
b) the Gladbach duo of Marin and Neuville, especially Marin. I think only one of them will survive the final cut
c) Jermaine Jones. I thought defensive midfield was covered, and Jones is a bit of a risky personality, but it's certainly deserved.
d) Odonkor. A bit of a lucky charm, I think.
e) Leaving out Stefan Kießling. Undeservedly.

ursus arctos wrote:

QUOTE:
Domenech has left Trezeguet out of France's "pre-selection" of 30 players, while including Bafe Gomis of St. Etienne, who has yet to be capped.

From what I've seen, Trezeguet hasn't looked particularly interested for club or country for a while now. He's been a fixture for too long, in my opinion.

Well, Trezeguet scored 20 goals for Juve in the league this year, so he must have been paying a bit of attention.

In any event, as noted on the squad thread, the big surprise in Italy is that Antonio Cassano has made the last 24 after not being expected to be in the last 30.